


Perish Song

by articas_ursula



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types, Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alpha Victor Nikiforov, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alpha/Omega, Badass Katsuki Yuuri, Confident Katsuki Yuuri, Fire Pokémon Trainer Yuri Plisetsky, Ghost Pokémon Trainer Yuuri Katsuki, Ice Pokémon Trainer Victor Nikiforov, Jealous Victor Nikiforov, M/M, Omega Katsuki Yuuri, Omega Verse, Pokémon Type Speciality Guilds, Rivals to Lovers, Unresolved Sexual Tension, Victor And Yuuri Love Riling Each Other Up, Yuri On Ice With A Pokémon Twist
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-19
Updated: 2019-08-28
Packaged: 2020-05-14 20:21:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 8,105
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19280476
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/articas_ursula/pseuds/articas_ursula
Summary: Nineteen year old Alpha Victor Nikiforov arrives at the Vermilion City Gym planning to challenge with his ice pokémon team, and is just in time to be reunited with eighteen year old Omega Yuuri Katsuki, his old rival. After witnessing Yuuri’s possibly-deranged and extremely powerful ghost pokémon use a rare attack, Victor invites himself along to travel with Yuuri so his own pokémon might learn it too.





	1. Perish Song

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Español available: [Canto Mortal](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20228578) by [Aizne_Redfox](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aizne_Redfox/pseuds/Aizne_Redfox)



  **Perish Song**

_artica's-ursula (FFN)_

_articas_ursula (AO3)_

* * *

 When nineteen year old Victor Nikiforov arrived at the Vermilion City Gym at seven in the morning, he was annoyed to find that another trainer had already initiated a challenge.

He’d pretended to sleep as long as he could last night, but was too excited to wait any longer as soon as the sun broke the horizon. His Glaceon, Makkachin, trotted eagerly after him as Victor ran a brush quickly through his silver hair, flashed his signature dazzling smile at himself in the mirror, and raced out of the Pokémon Center.

Victor had counted on the lazy Sunday morning to secure him the first challenger card of the day, but was disappointed when the gym receptionist handed him a buttery yellow card bearing the number two.  

“At least that Raichu won’t be completely fresh by the time he gets to us,” Victor pointed out to his Glaceon optimistically as he started down the dark iron hallway.

Makkachin huffed in agreement.

Lieutenant Surge was at least six and a half feet of solid, towering muscle and even Victor, also an Alpha, couldn’t help the instinctive reaction to take a step back upon seeing him. His half-open jacket carelessly showed off a powerful bare chest and he wore his Alpha scent so boldly it was almost rude. So how the Omega a head shorter than Victor could stand his ground, tilting his head up at the electric gym leader with his back to the exit, he had no idea.

“What a cute little thing!” Surge boomed to two of his biker-looking companions, tossing his head arrogantly as Victor drew nearer. “Don’t tell me you’re here to challenge, baby!”

“Sorry, but I am.”

 _Oh, no way. It_ can’t _be._

There was an unexpected _bang_ that made Victor wince briefly as he let go of the door and it shut loudly behind him. All four of the room’s other occupants turned to look at him.

 _It is!_ Victor reflected gleefully.

The Omega’s voice was as pretty as his face. Clearly Yuuri Katsuki recognized him by the way his bright copper eyes paused to stare from beneath thick lashes and a pair of glasses. His body was delicate with soft skin and an enticingly unmarked slender neck.

Not a thing about him was different from when Victor had last seen him three years ago.

“Now here’s a real challenger!” The Alpha gym leader clapped his hands once. The large Raichu at his feet sniggered rudely as it watched the drama unfold. Victor tore his eyes from Yuuri’s to regard it warily. That electric rat had enough juice in it to take down his friend Chris’s Dragonair in three moves, and that Dragonair was no slacker.

“You sure you don’t want this guy to go first?” Surge smirked down at Yuuri. “Might soften up ol’ Raichu for ya!”

“That’s a lot of excuses to make for someone supposedly so sure they’ll win.”

Silence.

 _Haha, nice!_ Victor grinned at the familiar deceptively-pleasant tone. In the Omega’s place, he wasn’t sure he’d do the same. Surge was a cocky 20-something year old Alpha and even Victor in all his confidence wasn’t arrogant enough to think he could best him.

The grin that had appeared on Victor had fallen off Surge. The gym leader frowned sharply. “Well, let’s get this over with. You know where the Pokémon Center is for afterward, right?”

Yuuri smiled sweetly, dangerous in its own way. “Why? Are you asking for directions?”

Surge’s frown morphed into a scowl.

He had apparently had enough of their exchange because he began barking orders to his visibly surprised companions, who quickly did as they were told to prepare the battlefield. As the Omega began gravitating towards the visitor side of the arena, Victor jogged after him, Makkachin hot on his heels.

“Well! Yuuri, this _is_ a surprise.”

Yuuri didn’t look happy to see him. “Victor. Great.”

“Don’t be that way,” he insisted as the gym began to come alive for Sunday morning matches around them. They had stopped to wait in front of the metal stands closest to the visitor box. “Hey, maybe you already know, but that Raichu is really high level,” Victor warned as Makkachin nosed Yuuri’s hand. “Whatever you have had better be able to dodge its shocks.”

Yuuri eyed him suspiciously, scratching Victor’s pokémon behind it’s blue ears. Despite their differences, Yuuri had always adored Makkachin and the feeling was mutual. Victor found it incredibly charming. “I heard. It knocked out Phichit’s Mr. Mime in two hits.”

“Ouch.”

“You ready, baby?” Surge yelled from the other side of the battlefield. All six and a half feet of him stood proudly in the home team box. Victor couldn’t help but feel his Alpha senses aggravate from being in his presence. Lieutenant Surge was famous for sexually entertaining Betas and the rare Omega the world over who sought him out for just that. Victor just didn’t appreciate such stiff competition being anywhere near Yuuri, that was all.

An assistant Victor hadn’t noticed before had appeared in the commentator’s box in a protective bubble to the side of the center ring. The giant scoreboard to reflect status conditions, number of moves, and the name of the moves used reset. On the yellow side, LT. SURGE was illuminated; on the red side, CHALLENGER YUURI KATSUKI.

Yuuri’s tightening fist was the only indication that the overly familiar term bothered him. It was the same tell Yuuri had when they were younger and other Alphas (Victor refused to admit to being one of them) behaved immaturely to get his attention. Out loud, he just pleasantly asked Victor to wish him luck and moved a few feet away into the visitor team box.

“Good luck!” Victor called belatedly.

“Jolteon! Go!”

Victor recognized Makkachin’s alternative form as it appeared on the battlefield. The spiky electric pokémon was impressive. Needle-sharp spines covered its entire body and tiny sparks were flying off it in every direction.

“So whatcha got, kid?” Surge called from across the room. The Raichu at his side bared its teeth. “Let me guess. A fairy trainer?”

Yuuri just smiled, selecting a pokéball from his belt. “That’s a really good guess. I’ve definitely never been told that one before.”

Victor almost wanted to warn Yuuri against angering Surge, but figured his advice wouldn’t be welcome. It wasn’t Victor’s place to tell him what to do, so Victor just sat and watched as Yuuri pressed the center button once, enlarging the ball, before throwing it out into the arena. As it sailed through the air, Victor tried to guess what it would be.

Yuuri was a year younger than Victor and so had become of age to leave home on his pokémon journey a year after Victor as well. He hadn’t yet decided on a type to specialize in at Pokémon Tech in Victor’s last year of school when he was sixteen and Yuuri fifteen, but Victor had a few thoughts on what he might have chosen.

As was the case with most trainers looking to challenge at a gym, he kept all his pokémon stowed in their balls to avoid revealing part of his hand. Makkachin hated pokéballs so Victor always skipped that strategy, but it was smart. Yuuri had indirectly denied being a fairy trainer, but Victor couldn’t help but think of something light and good-tempered to suit him--even if most of their interactions in school had ended with insults. Normal, water and grass fit that description well. Flying too.

What came out was… not at all what Victor expected.

Instead of something mild-mannered like a Skitty or even an agreeable form of Squirtle, the red light of the pokéball flickered, and a _fucking ghost_ appeared.

The most vicious-looking, fang-baring, crazy-eyed Gastly that Victor had ever seen in his life emerged with a bone-chilling sound that could only be described as something between a sadistic cackle and deranged cry.

“Fucking hell!” Surge cursed in surprise, taking a step back. Every needle on his Jolteon’s body rose as the electric pokémon hissed in warning.

Yuuri--cute, pretty, Omega Yuuri--had become a _ghost_ pokémon trainer.

“I can’t say I saw that coming,” Victor murmured.

The cloud of noxious gas surrounding the Gastly’s nightmarish face was shades of bruise-purple and poison-plum with a foreboding edge of dark violet. Victor couldn’t help but fish his pokédex from his pocket, subtly turning the volume down before pointing it at the pokémon.

“Gastly: the gas pokémon. The gas cloud surrounding this pokémon’s head begins its life as light lavender and turns darker and larger as it becomes more poisonous. Gastly is known for playing dangerous tricks on humans and kills a significant number of people each year.”

The scoreboard updated. A generic photo of each pokémon appeared beneath their respective trainers. Even the Gastly sprite looked demonic.

Victor cringed as he accidentally made eye contact with it.

 _I think it just stole my soul_.

“Do you need a minute?” Yuuri asked Surge, unfailingly polite.

Victor definitely did.

The Alpha gym leader scowled brutally, jabbing his large finger forward. “Jolteon! Thundershock!”

“Gastly,” Yuuri smiled, “Perish Song.”

For the third time, Victor was completely caught off guard.

Perish Song was an incredibly rare attack—a sinister song that rendered the target unconscious after four turns, no matter its condition in the end. A pokémon’s vocal cords had to be physiologically capable and the move had to be tutored by a pokémon that knew Perish Song already.

Victor would know. He had been trying to find a move tutor for his Jynx for years—starting before he’d even left home—but with no luck. Everyone he’d contacted who claimed to own a pokémon that knew the move was lying and the ones that weren’t charged impossible prices with months-long waitlists for their service.

_There’s no way Yuuri’s pokémon knows it._

A powerful electric current raced through the air towards the ghost pokémon, but before it could hit, Gastly engaged its invisibility and disappeared.

Surge cast around wildly. “Eh? Where’d it go?”

An unearthly, high-pitched wailing emitted from somewhere on the field, but it was hard to tell from where exactly.

Victor leaned forward, gripping the rail separating him from the field. _It knows it. It really knows it!_

Jolteon danced antsily in the open, warily moving its head back and forth in search of Gastly’s location. A few tendrils of electric energy were sent out, testing random places. Jolteon was clearly unnerved by its ghostly opponent.

“Four,” Yuuri said simply.

Gastly appeared inches from Jolteon’s face.

“Toxic,” Yuuri added.

Surge was so taken aback that he didn’t even think to give an order. Jolteon missed its turn and the toxic cloud rushed forward, hitting full-force.

“Jolt!” Surge yelled. Victor realized after a second it wasn’t a command. Surge was actually concerned for his pokémon.

_Okay not a total asshole then._

The commentator, who until that point had remained as stunned-silent as most of them, cleared his throat. “A direct hit! Jolteon is enveloped in Gastly’s poisonous fumes! It’s status condition has become ‘poisoned!’”

The scoreboard updated again, showing the universal skull and crossbones sign for poisoned next to Jolteon’s image. Perish Song, a time bomb that wasn’t actually a status condition, ticked away with its own counter under Jolteon’s sprite.

Victor was dying to see it hit ‘zero.’

Jolteon was shaken. It’s coat of needles stood completely upright now and it trembled slightly where it stood. Still, this was a pokémon gym resident. Jolteon growled, showing no signs of wanting to retreat.

“You asked for it you little punk!” Surge snapped. “Jolt, use Discharge!”

“Not ‘baby’ anymore?” Yuuri asked conversationally as Gastly gave a long, leering look to the incoming electric charge before vanishing. “I didn’t mean to upset you. We were getting along so well. Three.”

“Hold still!” Surge growled.

“Venoshock.”

This time Gastly appeared behind Jolteon, startling the electric pokémon badly on top of summoning a wave of thick foul-looking sludge that poured over its sharp fur.

“Jolteon! Return!”

Victor exhaled in a mixture of disappointment and relief, realizing he’d unconsciously been gripping a chunk of Makkachin’s sky-colored fluff the entire time. That had been rough to watch.

Surge didn’t put his next pokémon out right away, pausing to stare long and hard at the delicate-looking Omega standing opposite him.

“I’ll accept your yield when you’re ready.”

Surge scowled. “Baby, we’re just getting started!”

They were, but not in any way that was in Surge’s favor. One by one, Gastly dispatched the electric pokémon thrown at it. At one point, an Electrode sent by Surge used Explosion, hoping to do scattergun damage to the possibly deranged ghost pokémon at the expense of itself. It did, but only enough to infuriate the thing. Gastly was so spitting mad that the Electabuzz that came out next had no chance, receiving a vicious bite without Yuuri saying a word.

Finally recalling Magneton, Gastly’s latest victim, Surge turned and nodded to Raichu. The electric rat, which had been chomping at the bit to take its chance at the powerful ghost, raced eagerly into the rink. Sparks were already emitting from the electric sacks in its cheeks and it assumed an aggressive stance against the ghost pokémon staring insidiously down at it.

“Raichu! Roar!”

Yuuri’s brow rose.

Victor could relate. He hadn’t anticipated that, but he could understand the move. If he was Surge, he wouldn’t want to deal with that Gastly anymore either.

The Raichu grimaced, clearly wanting to try its hand against the foe that had defeated its teammates, but obeyed. It opened its mouth and released a loud roar. Gastly blinked at it, but didn’t otherwise react as the attack forced it to retreat back into its pokéball at Yuuri’s hip. At random, another pokémon was forced out, appearing in a jet of red.

For one wild moment, Victor though he was seeing a Pikachu. That was bad news. Electric on electric usually meant the match would go to whichever pokémon had the bigger shock ability, and Surge’s Raichu had no rival in that regard.

But the longer Victor looked at it, the more he realized something was… off.

From that distance, it _looked_ like a Pikachu. It had the _shape_ of a Pikachu...

And then, it’s neck literally bent in half.

The looking on Surge and Raichu’s faces were of identical horror.

“What the hell is _wrong_ with you!?” Surge demanded, aghast. His Raichu was rapidly turning green.

“Not a fan of ghosts, are you?” Yuuri said a bit too sympathetically to be genuine. Then, his expression turned grim. “You’re going to regret doing that.”

Finally Victor caught sight of Pikachu's face.

He choked.

It was a fucking _Mimikyu_.

“Thunder!”

“Shadow claw!”

Watching the dark shadowy hand reach from beneath Mimikyu’s shroud to leave four raking claw marks on Raichu’s body was a sight Victor could honestly have lived without seeing.

Creepy. It was _creepy_.

Ghost pokémon were hard to convince to cooperate, and so were hardly ever used in professional battle. The way Yuuri wielded them was like it was nothing though!

The round went just as the previous ones had, but Victor couldn’t help noticing that Mimikyu was getting gradually closer to Raichu, despite most of its attacks being non-physical and thus not requiring proximity to be executed. Through each attack and defense, those tiny beady black eyes arranged to peer out from “Pikachu’s” chest were obsessively, almost hungrily focused on Raichu.

Finally, Yuuri finished with Shadow Sneak, sending Mimikyu’s shadow to creep up behind Raichu and attack. Raichu panicked as the long, stretching darkness rapidly closed in from behind it and panicked even more as Mimikyu advanced in front of it. The deformed creature made a strange choking sound which seemed to be the final straw for Raichu, whose eyes rolled back in its head as it fainted.

There were several stunned seconds of silence as nearly everyone present attempted to wrap their head around what they’d just seen. Even Surge didn’t seem to know what to say, staring first at Yuuri, then at Mimikyu, then at his defeated Raichu.

“Don’t eat that.”

Victor’s eyes honed in on Yuuri, but the Omega wasn’t talking to him. He was looking over at Mimikyu, who remained looming over Surge’s Raichu with a foreboding air.

That seemed to jumpstart Surge at last. Hastily, he recalled Raichu to its pokéball, regarding the Mimikyu with a mixture of horror and suspicion.

“I was just kidding,” Yuuri offered awkwardly.

Surge looked unconvinced, but shook his head as though to clear it. “Well. I haven’t been served some humble pie like that in a long time.”

Yuuri just smiled at him as innocently as he had when he’d first stepped into the arena. He accepted his Thunder Badge with much more grace than Victor would have done if their roles had been switched. Lieutenant Surge had been a walking stereotype of a condescending Alpha when they’d met, but now seemed to regard Yuuri in exactly the opposite way in light of his impressive defeat.

“Come back and see me in a few years,” Surge grinned devilishly after handing over the badge. He spoke on bended knee to reduce his height so as to boldly press his lips against the sensitive skin of the underside of Yuuri’s wrist rather than the traditional back of the hand. “I could show you a few moves that will make you never want to leave.”

“I’ll remember that.”

Victor scowled as Yuuri met his gaze over Surge’s muscular shoulder. Back at Pokémon Tech the Omega had always had a way with words--from insults to charm and everything in between. Yuuri used to like nothing more than to wind Victor up, but considering how far out of his way Victor would go to do the same, it was hardly a surprise.  

_Some things never change._

“If he comes back one day, I’m keeping him,” Surge commented to his companions as Yuuri disappeared from sight out the front door. “...But damn I hate ghosts.”

“Creepy,” one of his lackies agreed.

Surge clapped his hands together once, turning to address Victor. “Anyway! It’s the B-team for you, kid! Ready?”

* * *

“Hey! Hey Yuuri!”

The Omega didn’t stop walking, half turning to watch Victor catching up with him.

“What, you’re stalking me now?” Yuuri frowned. “You didn’t even challenge!”

“Surge said to come back another day,” Victor lied, slowing as they fell into step. “His second string team isn’t ready.”

Yuuri wasn’t polite enough to let that stand. “You’re lying!”

“Would I do that?” Victor gave his signature dazzling grin and was pleased to see Yuuri’s cheeks darken. It was nice to know that he could still charm the prettiest thing around. “I wanted to ask you if you wanted to travel together for awhile.”

Yuuri scowled. “No thanks! You always bothered me in school. I’m not letting you start again!”

“That’s because I have a crush on you,” Victor replied easily.

Yuuri choked.

Sensing he was about to be turned down, Victor raised a hand. “Come on. Chris called it quits yesterday after Dragonair was taken down badly by Surge. It’s more fun traveling with people anyway!”

“Actually, I always travel alone.”

Victor stopped walking, incredulous. “Seriously? Isn’t it dangerous for anyone to do that? Never mind an Omega!”

Yuuri stopped too, opening his mouth to answer hotly, but Victor’s view of him was suddenly blocked by a pair of glowing scarlet eyes.

Victor swore, jumping backward. Tripping over the uneven sidewalk, he ultimately landed on his backside, staring up dazedly at the three ghost Pokémon sniggering at his expense. The Gastly he had seen before was joined by its two other evolved forms—a Haunter with knife-like claws and a Gengar with hellsfire eyes.

All three bore the same menacing grin.

“You deserve that,” Yuuri decided, but he reached out to help Victor up anyway, ignoring the three ghosts. Victor instinctively wanted to protect the Omega from them, but he needn't have worried. The ghouls parted peacefully as Yuuri pushed past them.

“I stand corrected about you being in danger,” Victor thought out loud with a disbelieving laugh, taking Yuuri’s offered hand.

“They do that all the time, too.”

“But it doesn’t change my mind about asking to travel with you.”

Yuuri eyed him suspiciously as he set Victor on his feet. The three ghosts hovered behind him. “Why? Honestly.”

“My Jynx has the vocal cords for Perish Song, but it has to be taught by a pokémon that already knows it.”

Yuuri seemed to relax upon finding out Victor’s ulterior motive. He had likely expected worse. “You want Gastly to teach it Perish Song?”

Victor nodded. “I’ve been looking for a move tutor for years. So far everyone who says their pokémon knows the move and can teach it has just been trying to scam me.”

Gastly seemed to realize they were talking about it. It ventured closer, leaving its companions several feet away. Victor tensed, but determinedly held his ground as it flashed its fangs.

“Let’s say I agree to this stupid plan. What do I get for move tutoring something so rare? Parish Song is mostly known by ghosts and ghosts usually don’t have the constitution to teach anyone anything.”

“Hmm, how about this: if your Gastly tutors my Jynx, I promise—“ he paused for effect. Despite himself, Yuuri leaned slightly forward in anticipation.

“To marry you.”

There was a solid second wherein Yuuri slowly processed what had been said. Then—

“UGH! Nikiforov, you troll!” Cheeks flushed, Yuuri took off indignantly as Victor laughed.

“Wait! Sorry, I couldn’t help myself!”

“No!” Yuuri slapped away Victor’s hand grabbing for his wrist. “You’re just as immature as you were at Tech school!”

Victor continued to grin, but attempted to look contrite at the same time. “Sorry. Really. You were always so serious. I wanted to see if anything had changed.”

“Haunter!”

That evil-looking Haunter suddenly appeared inches from Victor’s nose, making him jump back. Yuuri smirked triumphantly behind it. “Well one thing hasn’t changed. You’re still terrified of ghost pokémon.”

“Not ‘terrified,’” Victor quickly corrected him, slowly walking around Haunter without allowing it out of his sight. “Apprehensive.”

“Unluckily for you,” Yuuri replied. “Perish Song is hardly taught by fairy types. But I’m not tutoring your pokémon in anything now. You’re a jerk.”

“You like me,” Victor smirked. “You blush every time you look at me.”

Yuuri sputtered at him in outrage. “I do _not_!”

“Besides,” Victor went on. “If you don’t tutor my Jynx, I’ll just tell your parents you’re not really researching Taillow flight patterns like you told everyone.”

Yuuri gaped at him, furious. “That’s blackmail!”

“That’s business, darling.”

“Don’t call me that! You are _so—“_

“Handsome?” Victor suggested.

“ _Infuriating!_ I can’t stand you!”

“Yes you can.”

Yuuri called him something very rude and Victor clutched his heart dramatically in response.

“Wow, do you speak to your pokémon with that mouth? Maybe I should call and tell your parents about your questionable language instead.”

Victor had always loved riling Yuuri up and had taken great pleasure in being the only one able to do so at Pokémon Tech. While other Alphas had their bloated egos torn apart by Yuuri’s subtle insults, Victor had always enjoyed pretending to be too air-headed to understand the barbs. It drove Yuuri up the wall back then until eventually the Omega was chasing him around the schoolyard, throwing things at him as he grinned and dodged them.

They weren’t little kids anymore, though. This might very well be his only chance to have Jynx learn Perish Song and Victor wasn’t above playing dirty to get it done.

“Let’s travel together from here to Saffron City,” Victor proposed. “You said you were going there next, right?”

“Via the St. Anne cruise ship,” Yuuri countered through tightly gritted teeth. “They’re hosting a trainer gathering onboard.”

“I love cruises,” Victor purred.

“Jerk.”

Gastly let out a long, menacing peel of laughter that made Victor cringe and Yuuri smirk triumphantly.

“You’ll be sorry you didn’t leave me alone.”

Victor hid his dread with an attractive wink. “But I promised to marry you! I can’t go back on my word now.”

Saffron City.

He just had to make it to Saffron.

Victor could do this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time:
> 
> In the woods, Yuuri and Victor encounter a loudmouth Fire trainer, Yuri Plisetsky, who challenges Victor with his recently-evolved Charmeleon. It quickly becomes obvious that Charmeleon is wildly out of control and Yuri demands to travel with the pair when Yuuri teaches Charmeleon a valuable lesson.


	2. Taunt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This time: 
> 
> In the woods, Yuuri and Victor encounter a loudmouth Fire trainer, Yuri Plisetsky, who challenges Victor with his recently-evolved Charmeleon. It quickly becomes obvious that Charmeleon is wildly out of control and Yuri demands to travel with the pair when Yuuri teaches Charmeleon a valuable lesson.

**Perish Song**

_articas_ursula (AO3)_

_artica’s-ursula (FFN)_  

_Beta reader: TheDisreputableDog_

* * *

 Chapter 2: Taunt

* * *

“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Victor asked doubtfully as Yuuri stood facing him with his demonic Gastly floating at his side. The ghost pokémon looked like it was anticipating a meal in the form of Victor’s Jynx, whom he was hesitating to send out for just that reason.

Or maybe it just wanted to eat Victor. 

It was hard to tell.

“Stop stalling,” Yuuri told him, crossing his arms over his chest. 

The Omega's rattlesnake-black hair glinted in the Vermilion Forest sunlight where they’d set up camp just outside the city. His smaller body was wrapped up in a too-large blue and black sweater. 

He looked _adorable_. 

Not at all like someone capable of tutoring a rare ghost move. 

The only pokémon to naturally know Perish Song were pure ghosts, and even they needed practice to hone the skill. Ghost cross-types had to be taught by repetition and correction with a keen ear for the deathly tones of the ghost move. The vocals were all in such a high range that it was almost impossible for the human ear to pick out individual keys. Move tutors had to be able to hear in the sound wave frequency the Song was conducted in, and nearly the entire population just _couldn’t_.

“You can’t blackmail me into move tutoring your Jynx and then refuse to send it out. Unless you’ve changed your mind?” he added hopefully.

Victor ignored Yuuri’s last comment but did as he was told. Enlarging the pokéball once, he tossed it to the ground in front of him. 

Jynx, the only ice/psychic cross-type he had, appeared in a flash of light. A shock of white-blond hair went nearly to its feet which were obscured by its garish red frock. Its bulbous white eyes, set in a violet face, blinked once, twice, noticed Gastly and cringed.

Victor could understand the sentiment. 

He cleared his throat, forcing himself to sound casual.

“Hey Jynx, this is Yuuri. He’s going to move tutor you for Perish Song! Isn’t that great?” 

“It looks like it’s about to faint already.” Yuuri’s tone was doubtful but his expression was concerned. 

“No one asked you,” Victor sulked. Crouching on the hard dirt floor, the Alpha attempted to appeal to his ice pokémon again. “Come on, Jynx. I know that thing’s creepy looking, but we don’t have a ton of options here.”

Jynx warbled anxiously at him, its eyes darting between its trainer’s face and that of the Gastly baring its horrific fangs in a parody of a smile before engaging its invisibility once more. 

“I won’t be offended if you refuse,” Yuuri suggested to Jynx, adding to Victor, “We can just go our separate ways, no hard feelings.” 

“Trying to leave so soon? Mr. and Mrs. Katsuki must hate how busy your _research_ keeps you.”

Yuuri scowled at the threat. “It’s not my fault your Jynx won’t listen to you!”

“I can’t imagine it’s easy to do when your Gastly looks like a serial killer!” 

They were really yelling at each other now. It was just like being back at Pokémon Tech, bickering in the schoolyard as Phichit and Chris traded exasperated looks behind their backs. Hell, Victor hadn’t shouted at anyone in years, but he knew the last time he’d done it must have had something to do with Yuuri. The Omega never failed to rile him up with just a few words. 

Yuuri could be so _infuriating_. 

“Hey! What’s with all the fucking yelling?” 

It shouldn’t have been surprising that their argument had attracted attention. They hadn’t bothered trekking too far into the woods since they were leaving for the St. Anne the next morning from Vermilion City port.

Still, Victor felt extremely aggravated upon noticing a platinum-haired boy close to their age barging through the tree line with his Arcanine vaulting over the brush behind him to keep up. The strange trainer took a moment’s pause to evaluate the situation before rounding on Yuuri. 

“Is this asshole bothering you?” the young Alpha demanded of Yuuri, chest puffed with bravado. 

If his tone was meant to be reassuring, it wasn’t.

Oh _great_. Victor had experience with other Alphas misinterpreting his and Yuuri’s admittedly heated conversations and attempting to save Yuuri from him. He didn’t know why they bothered since everyone knew Omegas could easily incapacitate an Alpha with a sickly sweet wave of pheromones from their scent glands—not unlike a Stun Spore attack. Some Omegas even had tiny poison sacks under their nails that released when they hit pressure. Victor had no idea if Yuuri had those, but just in case he preferred to start their arguments with at least a meter of distance between them. 

Back when they were younger, Yuuri had accidentally hit him with the stunning scent attack full-force during one of their debates. Adolescent Omegas didn’t have much control over their biological defense mechanisms and Yuuri was no exception. Yuuri had showed up at his house later that day with red eyes and an anxious apology at the ready. Hating to see Yuuri genuinely upset, Victor distracted him by teasingly asking if he was there to kiss him. That turned into an even louder row than earlier, but Yuuri had stormed off looking satisfied with the result.

Eventually Victor had to conclude that it boiled down to half of them genuinely trying to do the right thing and protect another person and the rest were mostly just following their Alpha instincts to show off in front of an Omega. 

Who knew which side this new kid was going to fall on. 

“No,” Yuuri replied shortly before adding to an already annoyed Victor: “And another thing Nikiforov—!”

“He _is_ bothering you!” The boy pointed at Victor insistently, wading through the tall patch of grass blocking him from the pair. Unthinkingly, Victor advanced to place himself between the stranger and his Omega. 

Probably just as unthinkingly, Yuuri let him. 

“I challenge you to a pokémon battle!” 

Shelving his annoyance, Victor grinned. Now they were talking!

Yuuri seemed to weigh his irritation for being interrupted with his interest in a prospective battle. Victor waited hopefully for Yuuri to nod his consent before pumping his fist eagerly. 

“Ha! You’re on!”

“My name is Yuri Plisetsky,” the boy declared, yanking out his pokédex and raising it in front of himself. “I’m going to be the greatest trainer in the fire class!”

Victor and Yuuri exchanged looks.

So Yuri was a fire trainer.

Well, _that_ came as no surprise to either of them. 

They’d had schoolmates in Pokémon Tech that had declared fire as their specialty. Each specialty had its own worldwide guild with its headquarters located at a single flagship gym. Lieutenant Surge, for instance, had been the head of the electric specialty guild for years and led the flagship gym in Vermilion City. Electric-type trainers would make the journey to him from all over the world to attend a lesson for advanced electric moves or spar with other electric trainers that had also made the pilgrimage there. For individual electric trainers, the results of every battle with a fellow trainer on the road and every gym challenged were sent back to Vermilion City as well as the Pokémon League Headquarters office in whichever region a trainer was from. The more battles one engaged in, the higher one’s rank within one’s own type specialty’s guild. 

“Victor Nikiforov,” Victor returned the greeting, pulling out his own pokédex to link up with Yuri’s. From their current location in the Kanto region, Victor’s results would be sent half a world away to the ice guild’s worldwide headquarters in Snowbelle City, which also happened to serve as one of the gyms of the Kalos region. “Ice class.”

Immediately, the young Alpha looked triumphant. “My fire types are going to melt yours. This is too easy.” 

Still, Yuri pointed his pokédex at Victor’s and their two screens lit up with mirror messages. 

“‘Youngster Yuri would like to battle!’” Victor laughed at him, showing Yuuri the beginner rank that had been assigned to the spitfire blond. Each guild had different trainer class titles based off experience points gained from battling and Victor hadn’t seen this one before. “ _‘Youngster_?’ That’s so cute!” 

Yuri just scowled down at his own screen which Victor could see read his own title.

“‘Cool Trainer Victor!?’” Yuri read in disgust. 

“Jealous?” Victor suggested.

“Fuck you! Let’s start!”

They had ended up deciding on a three-on-three match up. Victor squinted up at the nearly-drizzling sky and grinned. 

_Perfect_.

“Castform! Do it!”

The small silvery cloud that popped out of the pokéball was the strongest choice Victor could make in this instance. Yuri wasn’t wrong when he declared that his fire types had the advantage over Victor’s ice, but Castform barely made the cut to be registered under Victor’s ice team. It was a weather pokémon, changing its type based on its environment. The Pokémon League had allowed it since one of the four forms it morphed into was ice. Here in the Vermilion Forest under dreary steel sky, however, Castform’s body shifted, turning a pleasing light blue and reforming its head into the shape of a rain droplet. 

Water type.

“That’s not fair!” Yuri gasped, rounding on his pokédex in appeal.

Dutifully, the tiny computer recited the pokedex entry. “Castform: the weather pokémon. Castform's appearance changes with the weather. This pokémon has the ability to use the vast power of nature to protect its tiny body. Its type shifts include normal, fire, water, and—”

“‘— _Ice_ ,’” Victor finished smugly. “The Pokémon League says it’s allowed. Castform’s registered under my _ice_ team.” Victor was pretty proud of that. Castform was nobody’s first choice when composing a League team due to its underwhelming stats, so the registrar hadn’t had a precedent when Victor turned in his application for Castform’s registration to his ice team. After a bit of convincing, they’d allowed it in the end--though the registrar was visibly dubious of his pick. 

Victor liked to think the same guy was handling his battle records in some musty office back in Kalos--his and Yuuri’s home region. 

He hoped seeing Castform’s impressive win rate made him choke. 

Yuri fumed at him, producing a pokéball from inside his jacket. “Whatever! I’m still going to crush you! My Charmander evolved this morning!” To prove it, Yuri tapped the pokéball once before casting out, tossing it at Victor’s feet with gusto. 

“Charmeleon! I choose you!” 

Cursing, Victor jumped back as a large blood-orange lizard abruptly appeared in front of him. It’s sour haughtiness bore an uncanny resemblance to its trainer as the Chameleon curled its lip and scanned its new surroundings with distaste. Even Yuri’s Arcanine looked wary of it, despite them being teammates and presumably well-acquainted. 

Jynx, still standing by, averted its gaze nervously.

Victor, next to a slowly bristling Makkachin, was still staring at Yuri like he couldn’t quite accept that someone had thrown a pokéball at him like they were trying to catch him. 

That left Yuuri—who met its gaze head-on.

The Charmeleon roared, flexing its fiery tail and long claws as it lunged for the human who dared meet its eye. For one breathless second, it looked like Yuuri was about to be seriously injured. Yuri yelled, panicked, for his pokémon to stop and Victor raced forward, but neither of their efforts made a difference.

Instead, as the distance between Charmeleon‘s rage and Yuuri’s surprised stare reduced to a mere four feet, the ghostly trio returned. With a vengeance.

Victor had seen the special attack Mean Look before, but not coming from three different ghost pokémon of various levels at the same time. He could scarcely express how little he wanted to repeat the experience, but he thought the dying sound in the back of Charmeleon’s throat summed it up nicely as it tripped over itself, landing headlong in the dirt, splayed inches before Yuuri’s feet. Nearby, Yuri lept back in horror at the sudden appearance of the three nightmares.

“Are you kidding me?” the pretty Omega demanded, leaning over the dazed fire pokémon staring stupidly up at him. Yuri’s expression was identical, watching the Omega currently scolding his Charmeleon to insensibility. His skin tone had taken on a faint shade of green, rattled by his proximity to the ghost attack. “Attacking people _and_ out of battle? _No_.”

The Charmealon flinched away from the three ghosts moving into its space.

Victor let out a long, shuddering breath. 

And rounded on Yuri.

“You have no control over that thing!” Victor snapped, his heart still thundering away like a herd of Rhydon in his chest. “You have no business sending out anything that won’t listen to you!” 

“He used to listen!” Actually, Yuri looked quite shaken up by the latest turn of events. “Charmander was my starter. My first friend! He’s _always_ listened to me!”

“He’s had a metric ton of hormones supernova through his body in the space of a few hours. He has no concept of that, but you do. It’s your job to train him not to freak out like that!” 

Yuri scowled at the dirt. “Yeah. _Okay_.”

“Some pokémon lose limbs, gain limbs, lose eyesight, gain eyesight, change to _extraordinary_ sizes. They have to learn a whole new body, not just abilities. You are responsible for them and any damage they do. Get up,” Yuuri added to the Charmeleon at his feet. 

Yuri let out an exasperated huff, Charmeleon’s pokéball in hand with the intention of recalling it when, incredibly enough, Charmeleon began to stagger to its feet. Yuri gaped unattractively as Yuuri proceeded to completely ignore the pokemon, walking away from it like it was just another annoying thing he had to deal with today. 

“How did you do that?”

Yuuri looked over at him, amused. “I train ghosts,” he said, as though that answered everything. 

Yuri stared at him even harder.

“Let me travel with you!” Yuri demanded.

Victor didn’t like where this was going. He eyed up the blond trainer unhappily. “No way.”

“No one asked you,” Yuuri repeated Victor’s previous words back to him. Presumably bolstered by Victor’s reluctance to the idea, Yuuri smiled at Yuri. “Sure, that’s fine.” 

“You’re supposed to be teaching Jynx Perish Song,” Victor complained.

“Oh, you mean the move you’re _blackmailing_ me into teaching? That one?”

It was clear by now that a pokémon battle was no longer in the cards. After a few minutes of watching Victor and Yuuri argue some more—eventually progressing to rehashing their ancient debate about the merits of defensive moves to pure attack--Yuri declared scornfully: “Oh, you aren’t really angry with each other. Your courting is just fucking loud.” 

“We’re not courting,” Yuuri replied immediately.

“Maybe you’re not. But he is.”

By the time Yuri interrupted them, Victor had worked himself into a slightly unreasonable sulk. He was pretending to focus on mixing bottled water or tinned gravy with freeze dried food and poképuffs in six bowls for his pokémon’s lunches but was really casting furtive looks at the two younger trainers. For reasons he couldn’t relate to, Yuuri had taken to Yuri in the way a Goldduck took to its particularly stupid offspring. He was sitting next to him at their campsite and practically _cooed_ when the kid’s stomach growled, stuffing him with snack bars. 

“Have you been to the fire flagship gym on Cinnabar Island yet?” Yuuri asked, patting the large Arcanine’s fluffy head. 

“I’m traveling there now,” Yuri bragged, posturing arrogantly as his pokémon slobbered on Yuuri’s arm. “I graduated from Pokémon Tech: Hoenn two months ago. Me and Charmeleon are going to take a class on Outrage. It’s one of the strongest fire moves out there!”

“From what we all just got to see, it has a great head start,” Victor taunted, beginning to release his pokémon to eat, one by one. Makkachan, Castform, and Jynx all wandered over to their bowls quickly, and the three others were soon attended to by a wonderfully fat Abomasnow, a tall, graceful Aurorus, and a fluffy Piloswine hidden under a shaggy carpet of brown fur. 

“I’ll wait to introduce you,” Victor decided after a moment. They all watched in silence as Abomasnow proceeded to shovel its portion by the fistful into its mouth, ignoring the unknown company around it. “They ate really early today before we left for the electric gym.”

“Are you going to feed yours too?” Yuri asked the Omega.

Yuuri gave him a weird look. “What exactly do you think ghosts eat?”

“I would really appreciate continuing not to know,” Victor muttered.

“I want to know!” Yuri interrupted. He casted around, but Yuuri’s ghosts were nowhere to be found. “Hey, where’d they go?”

Yuuri shrugged. “They’re around. They eat dreams sometimes, but that’s really it.”

Victor groaned in the background. “How am I supposed to sleep tonight knowing _that_?”

A tiny rustle in the tall grass nearby made them look around. Vermilion Forest was a popular bug pokémon catching site, so Victor wasn’t surprised to see a Weedle inch into view. Weedle, a type of larva, was one of the most common pokémon species in Kanto. Dismissing it, Victor turned back to continue the conversation when he noticed the gobsmacked look on Yuri’s face.

“It’s a Weedle!” the blond boy declared as though the pokémon god Ho-Oh had appeared before them. 

Victor shrugged, taking a second glance to check if it was a shiny Weedle or something. 

It wasn’t. 

“Yeah, so?”

But Yuri wasn’t paying him any mind. Fishing urgently through his pockets, he whipped out his pokédex and quickly pointed it at the tiny bug moving at an achingly slow pace ten feet from them.

As soon as the handheld computer lit up, the pokédex scanned the Weedle. As a research tool, the machine logged the Weedle’s location and basic information to be sent back to whichever professor had given Yuri his pokédex: approximate height, coloring, and the environment the pokémon had been found in. After the millisecond it took to complete that task, the pokédex finally piped up an audio description, generated by the accounts of millions of trainers around the world and refined into a single blurb by the research assistant whose miserable task it was to condense the self-important drivel of so many children into a few useful sentences.

“Weedle: the larva pokémon. Often found in forests eating leaves, it has a sharp venomous stinger on its head.”

“Wow,” said Yuri solemnly, staring as it tripped over itself and landed in an ungraceful lump on its back.

Victor finally realized that, being from Hoenn, a totally different region from their current location in Kanto, Yuri had likely never seen a Weedle before in his life. Each region had its own local species of pokémon that were rarely seen in other areas. Pokémon adapted very specifically to their own climate and usually kept their migratory patterns within their own region as well.

“Are you going to catch it?” Yuuri asked politely. 

Some trainers caught pokémon not within their specialty and some didn't. It really depended on one’s goal. Victor had met people who fixated on catching one of every pokémon type that existed worldwide. “Pokémon Masters,” they were called. But unless that was what their professor tasked them with, it wasn’t a very practical endeavor. Pokéballs were expensive and pokémon storage space in a lab was at a premium. Lots of people, like Victor and apparently Yuri, sought to climb to the highest rank within their specialty’s guild.

It occurred to Victor at that point that he’d never asked what Yuuri wanted to do. 

“No,” Yuri announced in answer to Yuuri’s original  question, flipping the keyboard function open on his pokédex. “I just have to record this data,” he added importantly.

Amused, Victor opened his mouth to point out that Weedle was one of the most well-documented pokémon on the face of the earth, but a nasty look from Yuuri made him stop. 

“What are your plans, Yuuri?” Victor asked instead.

Yuri frowned, looking up in annoyance. “I already told you—“

“No, the other Yuuri,” Victor clarified. After slight consideration, he decided. “This is going to get confusing. From now on, you’re Yurio.” 

The newly dubbed “Yurio” blistered in rage. “W—WHAT?! You can’t just rename me! That’s a stupid name, too!”

“I’m going to the top of the ghost class,” Yuuri said simply. It wasn’t exactly a unique goal, but still, how badass did you need to be to fight your way to the top of a bunch of hellishly terrifying ghost trainers? Victor opened his mouth to say so, but then Yuuri finished with: “And then I’m going to defeat Agatha, the leader of the ghost guild, and reopen the old ghost flagship gym in Lavender Town.” 

What. 

The. 

_Fuck_!?

Yurio was with him on this one.

“... _Huh_?!” Yurio gaped at him. “You can’t! That shit is actually and legitimately haunted. There’s an infestation of ghost pokémon that can’t be cleared. Everyone knows that. That’s why they shut it down and moved the flagship gym to the Indigo Elite Four building.”

Yuuri just shrugged, disturbingly blasé on the subject. “Well I guess I’ll just have to clear them out myself.”

“Yuuri,” Victor groaned. He should have seen this coming. He _should have_! Yuuri had clearly thought very carefully on their walk from Lieutenant Surge’s gym to the woods about the very best way to give Victor a heart attack. And now, here it was. 

“You can’t stop me, Victor,” Yuuri warned. 

“Yeah, I _know_ that. But Lavender Town?” Victor shuddered for effect. 

The Lavender Town pokémon gym used to hold court over the ghost specialty guild from the top floor of Pokémon Tower: a massive multi-level cemetery dedicated to dead pokémon. After some very hush-hush troubles with a criminal empire called Team Rocket, a sudden influx of ghost pokémon (mainly evolutionary cousins of Gastly) moved in and refused to leave. They were extremely aggressive and neither Agatha, the ghost guild’s leader, nor any of the lesser ghost gym leaders could clear them out, overwhelmed by the sheer number and nastiness of the ghosts. Even Ash Ketchum, the world-renowned Champion of the Elite Four, had popped by for tea and to see what he could do against the ghosts, but that had ended badly too. 

Victor had followed the story as it developed as a wide-eyed nine year old, permanently put off ghost pokémon as the reporter on television discussed Agatha’s relocation to the Elite Four building, where she would continue to lead the ghost specialty guild. Behind her, some guy was putting caution tape up to block off a dark ascending staircase with an overhead plaque that read _Seventh Floor: Ghost Specialists Interregional Guild Flagship._

Apparently Yuuri had been following that turn of events too, but came away with a very different impression.

_Oh well._

“Why couldn’t I have married a fairy trainer?” Victor grinned at Yurio. 

If there was no stopping Yuuri, he may as well join him.

“This is the _worst_ idea,” Yurio replied incredulously. “No one wants anything to do with that gym! Anyway, the ghost guild has the lowest number of trainers to it--even less after the Lavender Town thing. Ghost pokémon will turn on you. _Everyone_ knows that.”

Yurio wasn’t exactly wrong. The image of the ghost specialty guild had taken a serious hit after Agatha had been chased out of her own gym. People didn’t want their children leaving home with a _ghost_ companion, who would definitely leave them at the first sign of trouble. What about a nice Eevee? Or Squirtle? Or a Pikachu, like the Champion started out with?

Predictably, Yuuri didn’t like that.

“That’s completely unfair. Your Charmeleon just tried to kill me, but I don’t see you swearing off fire pokémon!”

Yurio flushed bright red but ultimately had nothing to say about that. 

Even if Victor was as wary of ghost pokémon as anyone else, he had to admit Yuuri had yet to seem in danger from his. So far, they’d actively defended him and were clearly formidable on the battlefield. 

_Huh. Maybe Yuuri really can pull this off._

“...And we’re not married!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time: 
> 
> Yuuri continues to instruct Victor's Jynx in Perish Song and Yurio tries to convince Charmeleon to listen to him as the trio boards the St. Anne cruise ship for the trainer gathering. Yurio gets off on the wrong foot with a fellow fire-type trainer named Cao Bin, who quickly becomes his rival.


End file.
